To José Adolfo Macías, aka Issueit cost him work to pronounce the words: “Yes, I accept, your honor.” The phrase, although brief, sealed the destiny of the man who for years sowed terror from within and outside the Ecuadorian prisons. The leader of, accepted his extradition to the United States, where seven charges for drug trafficking and arms trafficking are expected. Considered a key piece in the framework of the narco in Latin America, with connections that cross borders and corrupt institutions.
From La Roca prison, in Guayaquil, where Fito appeared telematically this Friday, July 11 before the National Judge. It was going to be the first hearing to pave its extradition to the United States, but with its affirmative response, the procedure is shortened. In the coming weeks, the dreaded leader could be transferred to a prison on American soil.
In April, the Court of the Eastern District of New York, one of the most active in the persecution of international criminal networks, where Joaquín was also tried El Chapo Guzmán formalized the charges against José Adolfo Macías.
They point it out as the United States, wash money on a continental scale and mobilize weapons with great logistics precision, almost military. “The defendant was a ruthless leader and a prolific drug trafficker within a violent transnational criminal organization,” said federal prosecutor John Durham, in his accusation. According to the prosecutor, Fito directed a network of hitmen, drug traffickers and weapons that operated with the support of the Sinaloa Cartel, one of the most powerful mafias in Mexico. The US authorities assure that most of the cocaine that the Choneros moved had as a final destination the North American market, with cargoes that described as “potentially lethal.”
In command of the oldest criminal band, Fito, has become the most feared face of organized crime in Ecuador. Its power has surpassed that of other local capos, to the point of establishing a structure that challenges the State from within prisons. If the American justice declares it guilty, it could face a penalty that goes from the 10 years in prison to life imprisonment.
Fito has preferred to face that destination in the United States rather than remain in Ecuador, in prisons mocking the prison system, but knows that remaining would mean exposing itself to a safe death. Thus ended his former boss and friend, José Luis Zambrano, aka Rasquiñawho was the main leader of the Choneros. After being released – thanks to judicial maneuvers -, Zambrano was executed in broad daylight in a cafeteria of a shopping center in Manta. The scene made it clear that, in the criminal underworld, the power is not forgiven and the betrayals are paid.
Fito would be the first extradited Ecuadorian drug trafficker after the approval of the popular consultation promoted by the president, Daniel Noboa, in April 2024. The transfer of Macías would mark a before and after. The most emblematic fall to date and a blunt blow against one of Ecuador’s most feared capos. Its extradition would open a precedent for more than a dozen criminal gangs that operate in the country, and that extend their power sowing terror in neighborhoods, prisons and drug trafficking routes that connect with the international market.
